Move to boost access to government data

Date: 05/11/1998

By Peter Chapman

THE European Commission is set to launch a debate on how to boost access to - and the use of - public sector data by private companies and individuals.

A Green Paper due to be launched next Wednesday (11 November) by Telecoms Commissioner Martin Bangemann will examine the barriers facing the publishing industry and individual citizens across the EU in their efforts to use the enormous amount of information governments collect about citizens.

The debate comes as new technology such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, CD-Roms and computer data processing are massively increasing the potential for using information such as social or household expenditure data, censuses or electoral records.

There are currently wide variations in member states' approaches to issues which could have an impact on the single market, such as what data can be released, charging for documents and government copyright. "Of course, we would expect users to say that information should be made available for free, while we would anticipate that some governments will want to charge," said one Commission official.

But officials say the paper will not address the question of whether governments should agree to publish sensitive documents which may have an impact on national security. "It will not impinge on national policies on privacy of information, data protection or intellectual property rights," said one.

After the consultation period ends on 1 May next year, the Commission intends to publish a follow-up paper summarising the responses and suggesting areas for future action at EU level.